Letters to Membership

With this message, I'm asking for your help to ensure that our industry sends a strong signal to Congress that we oppose the newest per-flight user fee targeting operators of turbine-powered general aviation (GA) aircraft, proposed by President Barack Obama in his recently submitted federal budget proposal for fiscal year 2015.

This fee will impose economic and administrative burdens on GA operators, who currently pay at the pump through an efficient per-gallon fuel tax, and will necessitate the creation of a costly new federal collection bureaucracy.

Of course, this certainly is not the first time we've seen the President propose this kind of user fee. The Obama administration has called for such fees in four prior budget proposals, despite repeated calls of opposition from a bipartisan group of congressional lawmakers, as well as mayors, local officials, industry stakeholders and others.

While our industry has been successful in defeating past user fee proposals, we know that this renewed call for implementation comes from the President, whose words carry consequences, so now is not the time for our industry to become complacent. That means we must once again make our united voice of opposition heard on this issue.

You can make your voice heard by using NBAA’s online “Contact Congress” resource, which helps people in business aviation make their voices heard about the policies most important to them.

Members of Congress are most attentive to their constituents, who live and work in the states and districts Senators and House Members are charged with representing. Contact Congress provides a quick, convenient means to tell your elected officials you oppose per-flight user fees.

I ask that you please take a moment now to share your strong opposition to aviation user fees through Contact Congress, and let your elected representatives know the importance of business aviation, and the industry’s opposition to per-flight user fees.